


Highlands Poppy: An Analysis of Clone Shiro’s Role in the Story of Voltron Legendary Defender

by The_Violet_Howler



Series: FreeVLDS8 Analysis [7]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Analysis, Gen, Meta, Nonfiction, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Parallels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:13:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26044783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Violet_Howler/pseuds/The_Violet_Howler
Summary: After season 6, so much of the fandom has been arguing over what should or should not have been done with Clone Shiro that the narrative function of the clone storyline slipped under everyone's radar despite the answer being telegraphed in the same season.
Series: FreeVLDS8 Analysis [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1412140
Kudos: 2





	Highlands Poppy: An Analysis of Clone Shiro’s Role in the Story of Voltron Legendary Defender

**Author's Note:**

> It took me way too long to make these connections.

It pretty much goes without saying that Shiro’s consciousness being merged with his clone in S6E07 Defender of All Universes was a controversial decision with the fandom. Many had been expecting the Clone Shiro plotline to be resolved the way that such stories usually go in your typical science fiction story. The clone would go through an existential crisis realizing that everything they know about themselves is a lie before eventually deciding to build a new identity for themselves independent of the original. So from that perspective, many fans saw the merging of the clone and the original as one character being killed off because the other was seen as more real, and therefore more important. 

However Voltron: Legendary Defender is not a purely science fiction franchise. With its druids and magic, and the Altean basically being elves in all but name, the show has the trappings of an epic fantasy set in outer space. So when discussing Clone Shiro’s role in the overall narrative of the series, we should not be looking at it from a purely sci-fi perspective. Meaning that despite the name “Operation Kuron” and being labeled as such on-screen in Seasons 6-7, “Kuron” does not align with traditional sci-fi tropes about cloning. To more accurately describe what he is, we should first look at the function that both Shiros fill within the overarching story of the series. 

A recurring narrative device used throughout VLD is to link two different characters or events by framing them as parallels. These parallels thematically tie the two together and serve to link the similar elements together in the mind of the audience, often with the additional purpose of highlighting the parts where the two are different. The most immediately obvious example would be the fight against the gladiator robeast in S1E03 Return of the Gladiator, where Voltron’s battle against the robeast intercuts with brief flashbacks to Shiro fighting the warrior it was built from back in the gladiator arena. 

However sometimes these parallels are more subtle, and aren’t directly pointed out in the narrative. Instead, the more subtle parallels are depicted through similar elements, or through visual details that signal that the events being depicted are of a similar nature. For example, despite being separated by at least 18 episodes, Pidge’s grief when she finds Matt’s grave in S4E02 Reunion parallels Shiro mourning Adam in S7E09 Know Your Enemy. Meanwhile, the bits of light floating off Lotor’s body in S8E10 Knights of Light: Part 2 resemble the ones seen coming from his parents’ eyes after their resurrection in S3E07 The Legend Begins, signalling that Lotor is not dead, despite WEP removing all trace of his survival from subsequent episodes.

After Allura transfers Shiro’s consciousness into the clone body, his eyes fill with a solid pink light that contracts before fading to show his pupils as the merger of Shiro and Clone Shiro completes. After this point, Shiro has all of his and the clone’s memories (although thanks to WEP’s meddling with Seasons 7 and 8, we did not get to see this shown on screen). The only other time in the series where we see this visual of a character’s eyes lighting up with a solid color before the light contracts and fades to reveal their pupils is when Haggar leaves Oriande and completes her transformation back into Honerva. 

From a storytelling perspective, this signals to the audience that what Honerva experienced in Oriande after forcing her way past the White Lion’s trial in S6E01 Omega Shield is similar to what occurred with Shiro and his clone in S6E07 Defender of All Universes: a merging of two selves. This connection ties in to an existing pattern that has been present in the show since Season 4 and still remains in Seasons 7 and 8 despite the extensive executive meddling that resulted in the culmination of this plotline being removed.

When speaking with Lotor in S6E05 The Black Paladins, Honerva refers to her Haggar persona as something she was transformed into. Something different than who she really is that she was changed into against her will. Lotor also treats Haggar and Honerva as separate entities in the same episode, and in S4E05 Begin the Blitz, even though we as the audience know for a fact that they are the same person. Shiro, too, makes a distinction between his own actions and those of his alternate self in S7E06. 

But despite her claims to the contrary, we are shown that the only difference between Haggar and Honerva is her memories. Even before she took a bath in the rift on Daibazaal, Honerva was always willing to push ethical boundaries in the name of science. She does not react with horror at her actions after regaining her memories, and despite attempting to separate herself from her Haggar identity, she still adheres to the same tactics to stay in control of the people around her.

In the same way, the biggest distinction between Shiro and his clone is their diverging memory post-Season 2, and the fact that the events of S3E5 The Journey added more trauma on top of Shiro’s PTSD from his time as a prisoner of the empire, making him more short-tempered and less patient. But the Shiro in Seasons 3-5 at his core is so identical to the Shiro of the first 2 seasons that despite the Operation Kuron line in S3E5, many fans before Season 6 did not believe that he was a clone at all. 

We do not get any on-screen acknowledgement of Shiro having two sets of memories, however the Season 8 episode Clear Day points out that Honerva and Haggar are the same person despite the change in her name and appearance. This indicates that we should have gotten a similar acknowledgement of Shiro’s situation at some point during the final season. We should also have seen both characters be forced to confront the reality of their situation in order to move forward. 

The moment where Honerva is forced to confront the fact that she cannot absolve herself of her actions as Haggar was more than likely a casualty of [Lotor’s removal from the final season](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.teampurplelion.com%2Fchasing-the-ghosts-of-season-8%2F&t=M2ZkYjM3MWU2MGViOWQ1MGMxZTEwY2I0NmNhMTQzY2YyZWM1NDRkMCw5MDFhODE4MzQ2YzAzM2VhYTIyMTNkNjJjOTNjMjlkNDU5Y2ZlN2Vm&ts=1598100982). Her final conversation with Lotor would have forced her to accept responsibility for her actions as Haggar, and Lotor would likewise be forced to acknowledge the cruel witch Haggar and his mother Honerva as the same person. 

While Honerva’s confrontation was centered around Lotor, Shiro’s most significant relationship throughout the overarching narrative is his bond with Keith. It would make perfect sense, then, for Keith to play a major role in helping Shiro reconcile with the memories and actions of his alternate sense. And since all of Keith and Shiro’s personal interactions were cut out of the season in order to No-Homo their connection, scenes that acknowledged the merger of the two Shiros were left on the cutting room floor. 

TL;DR: Shiro merging with his clone at the end of Season 6 is an external representation of what happens inside Honerva’s mind at the beginning. The two were each meant to have moments in Season 8 where they admit that their other selves were a part of them instead of separate entities, but these scenes were cut as a consequence of Lotor’s removal from the season and Keith and Shiro being No-Homo’d. 


End file.
